Pittsburgh-based BDE Productions brings rock musical to Greer Cabaret
By SHARON EBERSON
To mark the 30th anniversary of Rent, a one-night-only concert on Broadway to benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS s already sold out for October 26. But Pittsburgh won’t have to wait to celebrate the game-changing rock musical.
The show that launched Sewickley native Peter Matthew Smith to Broadway brings him home later this month, to direct the show for the second time in his hometown.
He was invited back by Michael Greer and Vince Tresco, who were directed by Smith in Rent for Pittsburgh Musical Theater, back in 2010. Now partners in BDE Productions (Romero and Juliet), and deciding on Rent as their second at the Greer Cabaret, they reached out to Smith again, whose reply was a resounding, “Yes!” The PMT reunion continues onstage, with Brady Patsy reprising his role as Tom Collins.
“Because everything’s in flux in Pittsburgh, [Greer and Tresco] are just like, you know what? Let’s just keep trying to hire our friends and keep things moving, because the theater world is so bizarre everywhere right now, honestly,” Smith said via Zoom.
Pittsburghers new to local theater may best recall Smith as King George in the first National Tour of Hamilton to reach Pittsburgh, in 2019. If you follow him on social media or check out his Playbill bio, you know that Smith’s heart is never far from his hometown — for Cry-Baby in 2008, his credits included, “Native of Pittsburgh (GO STEELERS!)”
Smith has spent the summer of 2026 performing in four shows for Maine State Musical Theatre, and was speaking during a run of Come From Away, at the same time the show was on the New Hazlett stage for his father, Front Porch Theatricals co-producer Bruce Smith.
Rent was an easy sell when the call came from Greer, and not just because he gets to visit his Pittsburgh family. Smith recalled being at Point Park University when Rent exploded onto the theater scene, in 1996, and, “All of us, as theater students, were just clamoring to be like, what is this new rock opera everyone’s talking about? And as soon as the album came out, I knew that show from front to back.
“All of my peers, we all loved the show so much,” he continued. “We would sing the songs in our cars and In our dorm rooms, and it was just constantly on loop for all of us.”
When Smith left school during his junior year to audition in New York, each time he was asked, “Do you know this?,” Smith was prepared, which made it “a no-brainer to hire me.”
He understudied both Broadway leads, and was a swing in multiple roles.
Flash forward to today, and Smith said of Rent, “It’s still one of those therapy shows that, when you listen to it, you either reinforce any positive experience you’re having, or it helps you come out of a negative one. And that’s what I’ve loved about the show. It’s always been that way.”
Besides Patsy in the cast, Smith has previously worked with Marissa Buckheit (Mimi), in a Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
He cast the show from Maine, over Zoom.
“I was just this head in the room, on a table, and every once in a while, I would have the actors come up to the screen, to just talk to me for a second, you know? And they would kind of kneel down in front of the table. I felt so bad about that. I was like, ‘I know this feels weird, but just come talk to me.’ And I loved them all. There was so much talent. That just got me excited throughout the process.”
Actors came from throughout the region and over the Ohio border, with Anthony Marino (seen most recently in Dear Evan Hansen for Pittsburgh Musical Theater and Assassins for Rogues Artists Theatre of Pittsburgh) as Mark, and Alexander Podolinski (Frank-N-Furter for Pittsburgh CLO’s The Rocky Horror Show) as Roger.
Adrian Escalona, memorable as Angel in Rent at Point Park, will reprise the role here. Chelsea Davis (following up her starring role in Little Lake’s Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson, as Joanne), Ruth Waiwaiole (Maureen), and Sati Rogerson (Benjamin Coffin III) round out the core cast.
Some of the cast members reminded Smith of himself, when he first auditioned for Rent.
“What was exciting, there were a few people in the room that were similar to me, in that they knew the show. I kept going, ‘Okay, do you know this? Can you sing this?’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, I know it.’ I’m so glad that 30 years later, there are young people still learning this show, and appreciating it.”
They would all like to follow Smith’s footsteps in another way.
“Rent started me on my professional theater journey,” he said, “and I’ve been working ever since.”
TICKETS AND DETAILS
BDE Productions’ Rent is at at the Greer Cabaret, Downtown, September 25-October 18, 2026. Tickets: https://trustarts.org/production/109626/rent?https://trustarts.org/production/105829/.
Categories: Arts and Ideas, Celebrity News, Feature Stories, Our Posts, Show Previews
Leave a Reply